Mari Gallagher is Principal of Mari Gallagher Research and Consulting Group. Clients and partners include grassroots community and civic organizations, government entities, foundations, and major international corporations. She and her firm have collaborated with the Institute of Medicine of the Academy of the Sciences, the Urban Institute, Harvard, MIT, the National YMCA, and many other organizations.

Mari is also the Founding President of the National Center for Public Research. NCforPR’s mission is to provide meaningful and unbiased data and information to improve quality of life, quality of health, and financial wellbeing for all people and communities.

Both MG and NCforPR are headquartered in Chicago.

Mari is also Adjunct Associate Professor at the Institute on Urban Health Research at Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University in Boston.

Mari has enjoyed a national reputation for diverse, high impact projects around the country for over 20 years of professional history. Expertise includes quantitative and qualitative research projects; financial services, housing, community development, community planning, workforce issues, the economy, immigration, food deserts, and community health; market analyses, commercial site assessments and hands-on redevelopment consulting; business strategies; mapping; expert testimony, facilitation, and public forums.

Publications include “Examining the Impact of Food Deserts on Public Health in Chicago” sponsored by LaSalle Bank (now Bank of America), a breakthrough study which popularized the term “food desert” across the country. MG was the first to develop a block-by-block metric for “food deserts” and “food balance” linked with health measures and has since done similar work in Detroit, rural Michigan, Louisville, Harlem, Savannah, Birmingham, Los Angeles and other areas. Mari’s work motivated Congressman Bobby Rush to address the problem of food deserts through the Farm Bill and through the mandating of a follow-on study to be completed by the USDA. Mari’s research shows that residents of food deserts die prematurely more than they would otherwise from diet-related conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Under Mari’s leadership, MG has provided free diabetes screenings to school age children in Richmond, Virginia, to help identify diabetic and pre-diabetic children and adolescents.

Over the last 20 years, Mari has enjoyed a colorful career. As the former executive director of a community development corporation, she led the co-development of a $75 million shopping center anchored by a full-service grocery store. The CDC secured a 5% ownership in the project and continues to receive revenue from it to support community programs. Mari also led a number of additional commercial, housing and job development and training projects, many of which won prestigious awards. She was the president of a technology company. And before launching her own firm, Mari directed a major Washington-based national research initiative aimed at identifying new ways to measure African American and Latino markets. Specialties include “below the radar” data, indexes, neighborhood report cards, and market analyses for undervalued and high-transition markets. She was one of the first researchers to identify and study the “undocumented Mexican” ITIN mortgage market.

Mari has received dozens of awards over the years for her leadership in community improvement projects from the University of Illinois, where she earned her Masters in Public Policy and Planning, the Boy Scouts of America, the American Heart Association and many other institutions. She led a research project for the Federal Reserve Board of Governor’s on Mexican immigrant banking and remittance patterns, which won a prize from a national consumer advocacy group. She was a founder and president of a soccer association that served Hispanic youth, a founder and volunteer for a homeless support network and food pantry, and active in other volunteer efforts. One of her initiatives years ago to develop a community garden in a vacant lot where a man was beaten to death received 32 media placements including House Beautiful and won an award from Chicago Mayor M. Daley. The project included a “fantasy mural” designed by former gang members.

Mari’s work continues to be covered by USA Today, National Public Radio, CNN, and many other venues. Mari also writes for the Huffington Post, which has 14 million unique visitors daily. She has been a guest speaker for various high-level forums across the country, including the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and the U.S. Conference of Mayors. She continues to be a well-received facilitator and presenter on many diverse topics. In addition to public forums, she provides executive briefings to the heads of major corporations.

Mari lived and studied in Latin America, speaks Spanish fluently, plays chess, and is married to Northwestern University economic historian Joseph Ferrie.

PUBLICATIONS

Mari has authored or co-authored over 100 studies on food access, community health, commercial revitalization, and other content areas over the course of her career. Here is a partial listing of publications.

• Ticket to Ride: A Needs Assessment on Transportation Needs for Seniors for ITNChicago, 2010

• Food Deserts, Children, and Diabetes: Using Indicators to Make A Difference, Washington, DC

• New Opportunities for Grocery Stores in Underserved Areas, National Community Reinvestment Coalition, Washington, DC

• No Butcher, No Baker, No Candle Stick Maker: What to Do With Your Empty Commercial Storefronts, Various Locations

• How to Quantify Undocumented Populations in Local Commercial Buying Power Market Assessments, Various Locations

• International Council of Shopping Centers (various topics and locations)

LEADERSHIP&AWARDS

Ms. Gallagher has been a member of a number of committees and task forces concerning underserved markets, food access, public health, and other areas over the years. Here we provide a partial listing of leadership and awards.

• University of Illinois Alumni Achievement Award, 2009 to present

• National Center for Public Research, Founding President, 2007 to present

• Appreciation Award from the American Heart Association of Metropolitan Chicago for providing leadership in advancing the three-year South Chicago Pilot Project, which successfully became an AHA division, 1994

• Sun-Times Award for Best Public / Private Partnership, 1995

• Appreciation Award from the Boy Scouts of America for chairing two fundraising drives that exceeded preceding campaigns by over 50%, 1992 and 1993

• Appreciation Award from the Constitutional Rights Foundation of Chicago for “outstanding contributions to the education of our nation’s youth for responsible leadership,” 1991

• City of Chicago Special Recognition Award presented by Mayor Richard M. Daley for “exemplary community service in creating a community garden representing the ideals of the City of Chicago,” 1990

• Special Appreciation Award from the South Chicago Chamber of Commerce for chairing its most financially successful street festival, 1989

• East Side Chamber of Commerce, Board of Directors, 1991 through 1994